Mind Games
by ClaireyL
Summary: A mission goes wrong and Sheppard starts to retreat from his friends. With them both stuck in the infirmary, it's up to Kara to try to help him. Set during season 4 so possible spoilers.
1. Mission gone bad

Disclaimer: Not me, I don't own a thing. Sue me if you want, I have no money to give you.

AN: This fic follows on from New Beginnings and has the same OC's as that story. You don't really need to read it to understand this one, but I won't stop you if you want to.

For the first time in a week, the infirmary was a bustle of activity. Five minutes ago the gate had activated, and Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne's teams had stumbled through, closely followed by six burly marines who where trying to hold of some sort of attack from the other side of the wormhole.

Dr Keller and her team had been ready and waiting for them, rushing forward to grab the injured and cart them off to the infirmary for treatment, which was were she was at that moment, trying to asses the damage to Kara Hopkins ankle.

"Jen, leave me. I'm fine; it's Colonel Sheppard you need to check. He was beaten pretty badly," Kara said trying to pull herself away from the insistent doctor.

"I need to check for any permanent damage," Jen argued.

Kara pushed her hands away from her ankle and said, "It's been like this for two days, I'm sure it'll keep for another hour."

Jen finally gave in and moved away from her friend, pulling off the pair of latex gloves she donned for treating Kara and grabbing another pair and putting them on before she moved to asses the situation around Sheppard.

Their mission was supposed to be a simple trade negotiation, but like all simple operations on Atlantis, suddenly everything changed and it all became very complicated.

They'd left three days ago to seal their trade agreement with the Neerans. Major Lorne's team had been the principle team involved in the negotiations but had asked Colonel Sheppard's team to join them after the Neeran leader had said something about a ceremony to seal the deal that needed their leader to participate in.

And for once nothing had gone wrong, well not at that point anyway. The ceremony went ahead and Sheppard survived; no strange alien drugs or priestesses in site. It was later that night that everything had gone tits up.

There had been celebrating and dancing, pretty much the norm for Pegasus, but neither of the teams had indulged in the local booze and as the party wound down, they made their way to the tents that had been set up for them, Teyla and Kara in the smaller one and the men in the larger one.

It was about three in the morning that Kara had woken up, her gut telling her that something wasn't right. She woke Teyla and they both pulled on some clothing before quietly exiting their tent. Kara was slightly startled to see Sheppard awake and sat outside the men's tent, P-90 lying next to him on the grass.

"You feel it too?" he asked Teyla, who shook her head.

"It was Captain Hopkins who woke me with her suspicions," she told Sheppard.

"Is it the Wraith?" he wanted to know.

"I do not believe so," she said. "I do not feel their presence nearby."

Sheppard had been about to tell them to wake the other men when all hell had broken loose around them.

Kara dove to the ground, taking Teyla with her, as bullets, or something that sounded remarkably like them, whizzed past them. In a matter of seconds they'd been surrounded by men in dark clothing, pointing what looked suspiciously like guns at them. Kara did her best to hold them off but her weapons were still in her tent. Teyla went down pretty quickly when a lucky shot hit her in the leg. Kara glimpsed what look like a tranquilizer dart before she was too busy trying to stop from being hit.

It was pretty obvious that they weren't going to make it out but Kara and Sheppard kept fighting all the same. Kara assumed that someone had managed to get into the tent and stun the rest of the team quickly because there seemed to be no help coming from the five men that were supposed to be in there.

In the end there were too many of them. One of the attackers managed to land a kick to Kara's ankle when she wasn't looking and she went down. She felt the dart pierce her neck and she looked up to see Sheppard take a hit to the stomach. He went down and the last thing Kara saw as the drug took effect was Sheppard getting kicked onto his back.

When she came to, Kara found herself in a rough cell. Lorne and Ronon were in there with her, both moving towards her as she sat up, head pounding like she'd spent a hard night out on the town.

"Damn if that thing doesn't give you the hangover from hell," she said, pressing her hand to her head hoping that it would stop the pain.

Lorne had laid her back down on the bench she was on and told her what had happened. Apparently the Neerans hadn't told them everything there was to know about their planet during the trade talks. The thing they had left out was that up until about fifty years ago, they had been involved in raids and strikes against another people, called the Mayaf. It had all started a few centuries ago when a Neeran priest had run away with the daughter of the Mayaf headman. As is always the way with these things, revenge had been called for and soon the two peoples were sworn enemies.

It was the Mayaf, having heard that their enemies were sealing a trade agreement with a new powerful ally that had kidnapped them. Kara, Ronon and Lorne had been placed in this cell because the Mayaf seemed to think that they were going to be the most trouble. Teyla, McKay, Connor and Miles had been but into a different cell across the hall from theirs.

"Where's Colonel Sheppard?" Kara had asked, remembering the beating he seemed to have taken before she passed out.

"We don't know," Lorne had told her. "We think they might have him down the corridor trying to extract information from him."

Kara's blood had run cold. Sheppard was tough she knew that, but with no hope of immediate rescue, how long could the Colonel hold out.

After a day and a half of sitting in that cell, the cavalry had finally arrived. Six marines had busted the place up pretty bad and practically dragged them out of the cells. Kara could only watch as the marines broke down the door at the end of the corridor and pulled an unconscious Sheppard out of the room. He looked bad, but Kara's ankle was still hurt and she could barely walk by herself so helping her CO was out of the question.

Teyla had wrapped her arm around Kara's waist and helped her to hop back to the gate, Connor and Miles carrying Sheppard between them and the rest of the men covering their six as they retreated. They made it to the gate and McKay was dialling home when the bullets had started flying again. They staggered through the gate and practically collapsed into the floor of the gateroom.


	2. What to do

"I'm worried about him," Jen confided to the people sat around her office.

They had been back twenty four hours and everyone except Sheppard and Kara had been released from the infirmary. Jen had called Teyla, Ronon, Lorne, McKay and Kara into her office about ten minutes ago and told them her concerns for Sheppard.

"Physically he's fine," she told them. "But mentally? I'm not sure what they did to him to try to get him to talk but he's not been sleeping right, even with sleeping tablets. He's twitchy and nervous. I'm not sure but I think they might have broken him."

"Sheppard would never talk," Ronon growled.

"That's not what I mean," Jen said.

"You think that whatever they did to him has made him retreat inside himself?" Lorne asked.

"He's not talking to me and we don't yet have a replacement psychologist. I can't release him from the infirmary for at least a few more days until he's fully recovered from all the internal injuries he has," Jen seemed exasperated. "I don't know what to do."

"I've heard of this kind of thing happening before," Lorne told the group. "Some men from the SGC have had similar problems in the past. A friend of mine was the only survivor of a raid that took the lives of eleven other SGC personnel. He went back out with a new team only to break down on their second mission."

"What happened to him?" McKay asked, worry clear in his voice.

"They sorted him out, eventually," Lorne said. "It took them some time and lots of counselling, but he finally admitted that he couldn't deal with the pressure of asking men to put their lives on the line everyday."

"How did they do it? Specifically, what finally made him talk?" Jen asked.

"I'm not sure," Lorne admitted. "I know that they asked us not to go and see him though. Apparently anything that reminded him of the SGC just made him worse."

"Well that's just peachy," McKay said. "This entire city is reminder of what he does for a living."

"Yes, but I don't think the Colonel is in quiet as bad a state as Major Lorne's friend," Jen reasoned. "If he had a problem after the raid, and no one knew about it and they sent him out again, that would only have compounded the problem. We know that there's something wrong with Colonel Sheppard right now, and I have no intention to let him back on to active duty until it's resolved."

"We have a chance to resolve the problem before it gets worse," Teyla summarised.

"Exactly," Jen said. "I just have no idea how to do that."

"We need to keep him distracted," Lorne suggested. "Maybe if we give him some time to think it through he'll sort it out by himself."

"And if he doesn't?" Ronon asked.

"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it," Jen replied. "For now we just need to keep him occupied and involved. If he retreats into himself we might have to send him back to Earth for a psychiatric exam."

"I'll do it," Kara volunteered. Every eye in the room swung to her. "You haven't released me yet, so I have a reason to be here."

"Do you think you can keep him distracted?" Jen asked.

"I can try," Kara replied.

Jen nodded. "It might work," she told the other people in the room.

There was a general consensus that, as the only plan they had, it was worth a try. "If any of you can think of anything that might help him take his mind off of what happened I'd be grateful for help," Kara said.

"He's reading a book," Teyla told her. "I will bring it with me when I come to visit later."

"Maybe some movies would be good?" Ronon suggested.

"Anything to help him relax and make him feel like he's safe sounds good," Kara said.

"Right, well, if you're going to be here for a while you should probably get back to bed," Jen said, standing up and helping Kara back to the bed that she'd been in overnight.

"Think it's going to work?" Ronon asked Lorne.

"If anyone can keep Sheppard occupied, it's Kara," Lorne replied truthfully.

Kara could see out of the corner of her eye that Sheppard was waking up. Jen had moved her to the bed closest to Sheppard, hoping that simply having someone else around while he slept would help. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling blankly.

"Hey roomy," she said watching as Sheppard stiffened and then moved his head to look at her. "Did you know that blueberry's are the new pomegranate?" she asked him, not looking up from the magazine that she was reading.

"What?" he asked, feeling very confused.

"That's what it says here," Kara told him. "Honestly, I thought that brown was the new black, so I've obviously missed a few of these announcement because somehow we've moved from colours to fruits."

Sheppard was still looking at her like she was crazy." What?" she asked.

"Why are you here?" he wanted to know, exasperation clear in his voice.

"Jen won't let me go. Says she doesn't trust me to stay off my ankle until it's healed so she won't discharge me until then," Kara explained.

"How longs that gonna be?"

"I have no idea. Probably no more than a week. Why, don't you want my company?"

Actually, Sheppard didn't. Right know all he wanted was to curl up into a ball and try to forget about the world. He wanted to sleep, but when he did the dreams came and he couldn't deal with those right now. The pills the doc gave him helped, but even with them he could still feel the nightmares circling, just waiting for him to relax and let his guard down.

"I suppose I'll deal," he replied.

"Wow, no need to sound too happy about having to spend time with me," Kara said, turning a page in her magazine.

"I'm sorry, it's just-."

"You really want to be left alone," Kara finished for him. When he gave her a puzzled look she explained, "Even I have days like that. When all you want to do is bury your head under the covers and block out the world."

"Yeah, something like that," Sheppard responded.

"I'll try to keep quiet," she told him, going back to reading her magazine.

Over the next five minutes, Kara watched Sheppard out of the corner of her eyes while she read through another five boring articles about how to make your life better by buying the right beauty treatments/choosing the right diet/buying the right clothes. His eyes kept flicking towards her and back to the ceiling.

Good, he wasn't a hopeless case after all. He wanted stimulation, the fact that he was looking at her told her that much. She just had to be slow and patient and not push too hard too fast. He was going to need time to get used to the idea that his life wasn't going to disappear in the blink of an eye. Then he'd maybe open up.


	3. Day 1

Disclaimer: I'm just playing here.

A few hours later Alex dropped by to visit. "Evan told me that Jen won't let you out," she said, sitting on the end of Kara's bed and kicking off her shoes. "So, I figured if Mohammad won't come to the mountain."

"That maybe the mountain should get its lazy ass out of its office and come and see Mohammed rather than waiting for her ankle to heal?" Kara asked.

"My thoughts exactly," she replied.

"Bring my anything good?" Kara asked eyeing the bag that Alex had brought with her.

"I may have some goodies for you, depending on how nice you've been," Alex teased.

"I've been fantastic, haven't I Colonel?" Kara asked, opening the conversation for Sheppard to jump in.

"Yeah, I've had nearly no peace and quiet at all," he replied, not ready for the plastic water cup that bounced off his head in retaliation.

"Oww," he said, moving his hand to rub the spot where the cup had hit. "I could write you up for that you know."

"I'd like to see you try," Kara scoffed.

"Assaulting a superior officer with a blunt instrument," John told her.

"I'd hardly call it a blunt instrument, and beside you barely have a mark,"

"Hmm," Sheppard said, settling down to watch Kara and Alex's conversation.

"Well, despite the way you're acting, I'm going to give you your present anyway," Alex said, pulling the bag up onto the bed with her and reaching inside. "First, one Terry Pratchett book, because I know you'll enjoy it if you just try to read it, and this is as good a time as any seeing as you have some free time on your hands."

Kara groaned, but took the book and started to read the back of it despite her protest.

"Next is my travel battleships game. I know we won't be able to play this week, but I figured if you and the Colonel have some time on your hands it might be a nice way to pass the time."

"Thank you," Kara said, accepting the game and placing it on the cabinet next to the bed where the stack of magazines she'd been reading was.

"Next, don't tell Jen but I smuggled in some contraband for you," Alex said pulling out a block of what looked like chocolate.

Kara took it eagerly and slid it under her pillow, hoping that Jen wouldn't find it before she had a chance to eat at least some of it.

"Finally, I managed to get the latest England/New Zealand game from a friend back home. It came in while you were away and I was planning on keeping it until you got discharged, but if that's going to be a while I thought you might want it sooner rather than later."

Alex pulled a flash memory drive out of the bag and handed it to Kara, who looked like she'd just been given the Holy Grail.

"I'll keep it until we have time to watch it together," Kara promised and pulled Alex into a hug.

"You're so sweet," Alex told her dropping the now almost empty bag down onto the floor. "How's the ankle feeling?" she asked.

"It's been better," Kara replied. "Jen says I'm lucky it didn't brake, if the hit been a few millimetres further down it probably would have."

"Damn lucky then," Alex agreed.

"And he had to stomp on my bad ankle as well," Kara complained. "I do have two, why did he have to choose the one that's already been sprained too many times to count."

The girl's conversation continued for another ten minutes before Alex left to go to the mess hall to meet Evan for dinner. Kara waved her off, mindful of the fact that Sheppard had been listening to every work they'd said to each other.

Ronon and Teyla dropped by after dinner with things for Sheppard to help him survive his confinement. Teyla bought his book, which Kara was amused to find was War and Peace, and Ronon bought some DVD's that Sheppard had in his room. They stayed for an hour or so before leaving, both promising that they'd be back in the morning to visit.

Sheppard seemed distant with them, and merely nodded when they told him they'd be back later. He hadn't wanted to talk much but had listened politely to their news and made the appropriate comments about the gossip that was floating round.

Once they'd left, Kara gave up the pretence of reading her new book and rolled over to face Sheppard's bed. "There is nothing worse than being stuck in the infirmary," she told him.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Sheppard replied.

"There's something really depressing about hospitals," she commented. "Maybe it's all the sick people, or the smell of the disinfectant, or the harsh lighting, but I've never liked them."

"Can't say I'm a big fan myself," Sheppard said, trying not to wonder where this was going.

"I suppose it's kind of a hazard of the job, getting hurt all the time."

"I'm not always getting hurt," Sheppard said defensively.

"Then why has that bed you're lying of have your name carved into it?" Kara asked.

"That was a joke," Sheppard retorted.

"Yeah, one that seems to have touched a little too close to home for your comfort," Kara commented lightly.

"McKay was trying to be clever."

"He doesn't have to try, he just is," Kara exclaimed. "That man has a higher IQ while he's asleep that most of the people on this base."

"I could have been a member of MENSA," Sheppard said slightly sulkily.

"I'm sure you could," Kara soothed. "Anyway, I didn't mean you. I know you're clever."

"Really?" John asked.

"You don't make it to Colonel by being dumb. I'll admit that some of your ideas weren't that good," Sheppard snorted. "But generally speaking you haven't led us wrong yet."

"Still expecting me to mess up?" he asked.

"Everyone has to slip now and then," Kara said, turning onto her back and gazing at the ceiling. "Even the best of us have to have our stupid moments, stops us from thinking we're invincible."

Sheppard was about to reply when Keller turned up with their pills and told them it was time to call it a night.

Kara settled down into her bed and started to wonder what Sheppard was about to say when Jen had come over. She stared into the darkness and hoped that he still felt like talking in the morning.


	4. Day 2 and 3

Disclaimer: Not mine, it belongs to some people who live in canada. I also don't own the songs, though I wish did.

-

The second day in the infirmary pretty much followed the same pattern as the first. Teyla, Ronon, Lorne and Alex all came to visit, Lorne bringing requisition forms that needed to be signed. They joked and played around, but Sheppard was still distant with Teyla and Ronon.

Kara helped him pass the time between meals, check-ups and visitors by chatting about anything she could think of. Sheppard made a few comments, but was mostly content to just listen as she nattered on, thankful that he had something to take his mind off what had happened.

After dinner, Rodney came to visit them for the first time since he'd been cleared to return to work. The scientist seemed a little skittish and tried to avoid talking about anything that he thought might upset the Colonel. On the plus side, he brought something to keep Sheppard's mind occupied; his guitar.

"I know you haven't really had a chance recently to play, so I thought you might enjoy indulging again while you can," Rodney told his friend.

Kara could have hugged him. It was exactly what Sheppard needed, something to take his mind of off what had been going on, but not something that would remind him too much of his life on Atlantis. While Teyla and Ronon's offerings had been great for keeping Sheppard occupied, Kara had managed to get his to confess that the only reason he was reading War and Peace was because he figured that if he was going to be stuck in another galaxy for who knew how long he might as well have a book that was going to take a long time to read and the DVD's that Ronon had bought him were ones that he had planned on watching with Ronon, Teyla and Rodney when they had their team movie nights. Neither was particularly great at trying to take Sheppard's mind off his life on Atlantis.

By the time Jen came round with their evening pills, Kara could see that Sheppard was starting to relax more. He'd even smiled at some of the stupider things she'd said over the last hour or so.

For the first time since he'd returned to Atlantis, Sheppard slept soundly with no nightmares even lurking in the back of his sub-conscious. In fact, he didn't even dream at all.

He woke early, the drugs that Keller had given him wearing off after only a few hours. They were designed to get a person to go to sleep, but not to keep them there for any period of time. He smiled to himself thinking that maybe his prolonged stay in the infirmary wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.

He turned over to face Kara, hoping she was awake and wanted to talk but was caught off guard when he saw her. She'd somehow managed to remove the bottom half of the scrubs that she was using as pyjama's and kicked off the sheet that was supposed to be covering her. Sheppard couldn't help himself as his gaze flicked from her face to her legs.

He knew that she was off-limits. She was under his command and nothing was going to be able to happen between them. However, that didn't stop the thoughts of what he could do to her with those lovely legs wrapped round him zipping across his mind.

He suppressed a groan and rolled onto his back, trying to stop the parade of R rated images from marching through his head. To take his mind off of Kara, he pulled War and Peace off the dresser next to his bed and flicked to the chapter he'd last read, trying hard to concentrate on the story. It wasn't long before he was asleep again.

-

Sheppard awoke again a few hours later to hear the gentle strumming of a guitar coming from Kara's bed. He turned to see Kara sat up in bed, his guitar balanced on her knee as she gently strummed a song he didn't know, her eyes closed and her face looking blissful. She wasn't even looking were her hand was moving as she changed chords.

As if feeling his eyes on her, she opened her eyes and looked over at him. "Sorry," she apologised. "Did I wake you?"

"Not really," Sheppard replied sleepily. "I didn't know you played."

"Because you just know so much about me," Kara said sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant," Sheppard tried to explain.

"I know, I'm sorry," Kara apologised again. "It's just being in the infirmary, it gets to you after a while."

"That's okay," Sheppard told her. "I've been sleeping more than you have. I'm surprised you haven't tried to escape yet though."

"Give me a few hours and a minor emergency and I might just try it," Kara joked. She went back to playing the guitar, seemingly picking chords at random, but Sheppard found it soothing. He relaxed back into his bed and closed his eyes, letting the music wash over him.

Kara soon found herself humming as she started to play a song that she knew from when she was younger. She was surprised at how much she missed playing.

"When did you first start to learn?" Sheppard asked her.

"When I was small," Kara told him. "It was a reason to get out of the house mostly, but as time went on I found I actually quite liked music."

Silence fell again and Kara changed tunes to something slightly more upbeat, finding herself singling the words quietly.

"What do you call that song Hopkins?" Sheppard asked.

"Could you do me a favour sir? Call me Kara." She asked. Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "It's my name," she added.

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "I know that, but why?"

"I spend most of my day risking my life for the betterment of humanity. I could die any time. I'd rather die Kara than Captain Hopkins. It's more personal."

"That's a happy thing to think," Sheppard told her.

"I know, but it's true. Plus I'm not much for military rules."

"Well if I'm going to call you Kara, you should call me John," Sheppard told her, kicking himself the minute he said it but trying to remain calm.

"I think I can manage that," Kara said smiling. "And the song is called 'All She Wrote'."

"It's nice," John said turning his head to look at her again.

"Mind if I keep playing?" Kara wanted to know.

"Sure, it's nice. Relaxing even," John said.

Kara changed songs and started to play, closing her eyes after a few minutes and letting her hands move between chords without thought.

She was still strumming away and hour and a half later when Alex came to visit her. Kara stopped when she saw her friend stood in the doorway to the infirmary.

"Now where did you get that from?" Alex asked as she came to sit in the end of her friend's bed.

"It's the Colonel's. McKay brought it in for him yesterday," Kara explained.

"And you just couldn't keep your hands to yourself," Alex teased.

"She's welcome to it," John said, startling Alex who'd thought he was asleep. "She's much better than I am."

Kara rolled her eyes and went back to strumming random chords. She smiled as a thought crossed her mind and she started to strum a sequence of chords she hadn't played in years. "Feel like exercising your vocal chords?" she asked Alex grinning.

"Oh no, we both agreed we wouldn't mention that."

"Aww, come on, it'll be fun and it's not like there's lots of people here to hear you. Please?" she asked giving her friend puppy dog eyes.

"You are insufferable at times," Alex told her as her friend started the chord sequence again.

"I don't want, half hearted love affair," Kara started to sing. "I need someone who really cares. Like is too short, to play silly games. I promised myself, I won't do that again."

"It's got to be perfect," Alex sung. "It's got to be worth it. Too many people take second best. But I won't take anything less. It's got to be, yeah, perfect.

"Young heart are foolish, they make such mistakes. There much too eager to give their love away. Well I have been foolish too any time. Now I'm determined, I'm gonna get it right."

Kara joined Alex on the chorus, harmonising well with the other woman as if they'd done it before. Kara looked over Alex shoulder to see Lorne enter the infirmary, documents under one arm as he had the day before looking quizzically at the scene before him.

"Young hearts are foolish, they make such mistakes," Alex repeated. "They're much too eager to give their love away. Well I have been foolish too any time. Now I'm determined, I'm gonna get it right."

As they started the chorus again, Lorne walked over and placed his hand on Alex's shoulder. She looked up but didn't stop singing, blushing when she realised who it was that had heard them. Kara smiled and kept playing and singing, glancing over to see John smiling at them.

When they finished, Lorne and John clapped, causing Alex to blush even more. "Since when have you been able to sing?" Lorne asked, perching next to Alex on the end of Kara's bed and putting one arm around her waist to pull her closer to him.

"Since always, I just normally refrain from doing to in public," Alex told him. Lorne just rolled his eyes and turned to Kara.

"And since when have you been able to play guitar?"

"About five minutes," Kara told him, face as straight as she could manage.

Lorne sighed and stood up, moving over to Sheppard and handing him the reports. "I just need you to sign these," he said as Kara started playing again.

"I never knew that there where this many forms for me to sign," John groused as he went through the folder, signing where Lorne told him to.

"Normally we can get away with just me signing them," Lorne told him. "But seeing as you're confined to the infirmary, I thought I could get you to sign them for a change."

"I knew there was a reason I asked for you to be my XO," John told him as he finished signing the forms. "Sometime you just need a guy that'll sort things out without bothering you."

Lorne rolled his eyes and collected the documents before heading to leave. "I'll come by for a social visit later," he called over his shoulder to Kara.

"Take your time," she shouted back as he turned the corner and disappeared.

"I'd better be off as well," Alex told them, hopping off the bed and patting Kara on the knee through the sheets. "I'll try to get back later for a bit longer, but I'm kind of swamped at the moment."

"I know you'll do your best," Kara told her, squeezing her hand.

Once Alex had left, John looked over at Kara and said, "You're lucky to have such a good friend here."

"She great," Kara told him, strumming the guitar again. "Now, it's your turn to entertain me while the blood returns to my finger."

"I told you, I'm not as good as you are," John warned, taking the guitar from her and pushing up so he was sat rather than lying down.

"Hey don't worry about it. Not everyone can be as good as me."

-

That evening when Ronon and Teyla dropped in to see John he told them how good Kara was with the guitar and after some prompting she started playing again. When Lorne and Alex appeared with food trays from the mess hall, the guitar was put aside for a while as they all tucked in to dinner together.

Once there were done and someone from the kitchens had come to clear away the mess, Kara picked up the guitar and started to play once again. She was surprised at how much she'd been playing, but so far nobody had told her to stop and she figured once they left the infirmary, John would take it back and she'd be guitar-less once again.

"Feel like singing?" Evan teased Alex, who blushed.

"Stop it," Kara scolded, watching as her boss pulled her friend closer to him, kissing her temple. "You know she doesn't like being the centre of attention."

Alex threw her a look of gratitude as she snuggled closer into Evan's side.

"You should," John encouraged. "You're really good."

"Only if Kara sings as well," Alex said, hoping her friend would save her.

"Hey, I couldn't care less who hears me sing," Kara shrugged. "Feel like anything specific?" she asked the room.

An hour later, Jen kicked them all out, telling John that he needed rest. She gave him his pills, which he threw back and swallowed without water, and then moved on to Kara. "I think it's time we tried to exercise that ankle of yours before it gets stiff," she told her friend, throwing the sheets off of Kara and helping her sit up.

"Not too far I hope," Kara said.

"Just down to the mess hall and back," Jen told her, letting Kara put her weight on her as she stood before she grabbed the crutch that Kara had been given to help her walk.

She waved goodbye to John as she hobbled out of the infirmary and around the corner, waiting until the doors shut before she handed Jen the crutch and attempted to walk a few paces without it.

"It's still a little tender," she told Jen. "But it's nothing I can't handle."

"It looks pretty good. The swellings almost completely gone, just the bruise left," the doctor commented.

"Are we still going to the mess hall?" Kara asked.

"Yep, we're meeting the other there in ten minutes," Jen replied as she handed Kara back the crutch and they made their way down the hall to the nearest transporter.

The mess hall it quiet when they arrived. Jen grabbed two cups of tea from the table where the drinks and snacks were left overnight for any stray scientists or night shift workers. Kara went straight to the serving area and managed to beg a bowl of jell-o from one of the kitchen staff who was clearing up after the dinner rush.

They just sat down when Alex and Evan entered, closely followed by Teyla. They all helped themselves to coffee or tea and were just sitting down when Ronon entered and headed straight over to the table where they where gathering.

"Anybody know if McKay's actually going to be able to make it?" Kara asked as she finished off her jell-o and pushed the bowl away.

"I saw Rodney earlier and he said that he was working on a very important experiment," Teyla told the assembled group.

"We should start without him," Ronon grumbled.

They waited another five minutes and when McKay didn't turn up Kara started. "He's getting better," she told them. "I don't think he had any nightmares last night, at least not that I could tell. He's still pretty distant with Teyla and Ronon, but he seems to be opening up more to me and Alex."

"I agree," Teyla said. "He seemed much more like his old self tonight then he has previously."

"Yeah, but he's still not right," Ronon interjected.

"It'll be a while until he's completely back to normal," Jen reassured the group. "But from what I've seen today, he's definitely making progress."

"I have a suggestion," Kara added. "Tomorrow night is girl's night, and I wondered if you guys would mind coming to watch a movie in the infirmary with us."

"Is that a good idea?" Evan asked. "I mean, that's a lot of people to be throwing at him."

"Yes," Jen agreed. "But he doesn't know any of us that well. I think it might be beneficial for him to be surrounded by lots of people."

"Plus he is still John Sheppard," Teyla added. "I have no doubt that he would enjoy being surrounded by women and I know that he has been joking about sneaking a video camera into one of our games."

"Even Sheppard will be willing to put up with being slightly uncomfortable if it means that he becomes that first man to ever participate in girl's night," Alex commented.

"I'll spread word to the girls," Jen offered. "If they go for it we'll see you at eight."

The meeting broke up with everyone leaving in groups of two, Evan and Alex were off to do whatever it was they did behind closed doors, Ronon and Teyla were headed to the gym to spa, and Jen and Kara (the last to leave) where headed back to the infirmary when Rodney finally showed up.

"Did I miss it?" he asked, looking around the deserted mess hall.

"Sorry McKay," Jen told him. "We thought it better to go ahead without you,"

"Oh, well that fine," McKay said going for nonchalant but sounding more rejected.

"Don't worry," Kara told him. "Sheppard seems fine and we've made some plans to keep him occupied for a while."

"Right, good good."

Kara put on hand on Rodney's arm as she passed him. "Thank you for bringing the guitar," she said to him quietly. "It's really helped."

McKay beamed. "Really?" he asked.

"Yes McKay," Kara told him. She moved off and headed toward where Jen was waiting for her at the transporter.

"You mean my thing was better than Teyla and Ronon's?" he asked.

"Stop pushing McKay," Kara called back as the door slid shut, leaving Rodney by himself in the corridor.

-

AN: And that's chapter 4. If you like it reviews are really appreciated.


	5. Getting closer

Disclaimer: Nope, I own nothing.

-

"What is that?" John asked Kara, using his head to indicate to the data stick the Kara was twiddling between her fingers.

"This?" she asked. John nodded. "It's the last rugby came between England and New Zealand. Alex got a friend to send it to her."

"Why?" John asked before he could stop himself. He was a big football fan and somehow could never get over the fact that the Brit's didn't play it.

"Because she happens to like it, as do I," she told John.

"But, its rugby," he protested.

"Which happens to be a fantastic game," Kara told him.

"Yeah but…rugby? Why don't you just watch football?" he asked.

"Because I happen to like rugby," she informed him.

John thought this over for a few seconds before added, "Rugby?"

Kara shook her head and reached for her ear piece that was sat by the travel battleship game next to her bed.

"What are you doing?" John asked.

Kara just shushed him, slipped the ear piece on and activated it. "Hopkins to Owen. Alex are you free right now?"

There was a small squeak on the other end of the line before Alex responded, "_Yeah, Kara. Is something wrong_?"

Alex sounded a little out of breath and Kara had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. It seemed like every time she tried to either find Alex or used the radio to contact her she was with Lorne. "I was just wondering if you were free to watch the England game," Kara said.

"_Sure, just give me ten minutes_," Alex said, then gasped quietly and added, "_Better make that twenty minutes_."

Closing her eyes and trying not to think about what had just made her friend re-estimate how long she would be Kara said, "I'll see you in twenty. Oh, and say hi to Lorne for me."

Alex didn't answer, but Kara could feel the blush over the radio. She cut the transmission and put her ear piece back on the cabinet beside her. She looked over at John and he raised an eyebrow. "Don't ask," she said, pulling herself out of bed and hopping over to where one of the big screens was stored. She managed to half drag it so that it was resting at the end of the two beds before she hopped back to bed.

"I'll let Alex set up the rest when she gets here," she explained to John, who had just watched her, trying his best no to laugh at her attempts to get the thing to move.

"Probably a good idea," he said a little too calmly.

Five minutes later Alex hurried in looking a little flustered. "I wasn't expecting you for another ten minutes," Kara told her as she made her way to the beds.

"Yes well, I knew you'd be counting so I tried my best to get here on time," Alex said, blushing slightly as she took one of the spare tablets that were lying around and connected it up to the screen.

"Want to tell me what you were doing?" Kara teased, knowing her friend would never answer the question, not while there was someone else in the room.

Alex glared up and Kara and finally snapped. "If you must know I was making out with my boyfriend. Which I probably didn't have to tell you because you'd already worked out for yourself."

Alex rammed the memory stick into the tablet a little more aggressively that needed as John nearly choked on the water he was sipping. Alex looked up and felt her face flush with heat. "Sorry Colonel," she apologised.

"That's fine, don't you worry about it," John said between coughs.

Alex loaded up the game and moved to sit on the end of Kara's bed.

The game lasted two hours, and John found that he actually quite liked it. It wasn't as good as football, but really, what was? He found the rules slightly confusing the start with, and the points thing was weird, but once he just stopped trying to understand them he found himself enjoying it.

Possibly the best part was the way that the women were reacting to it. Every time the referee made a call against England, Kara would shout and swear at the screen, even though it wouldn't make a blind bit if difference. Alex was just as into it, although she didn't swear as much and tended to be a little fairer of the referee's decisions compared to Kara.

In the end England lost, but it was a close game. Both women agree at the end that the better team won though.

Alex extracted her legs from the nest of covers that she'd managed to tangle herself in while watching the game and shut down the screen and the tablet, stuffing the memory stick into her pocket.

"I'll try to come by later with dinner," she told Kara as she checked her watch. "I shouldn't be more than an hour or so."

"Yes yes, go have fantastic sex with you boyfriend," Kara said, waving at Alex to leave.

Alex rolled her eyes as she felt a blush rise up her cheeks. "You know we do more than just have sex," she protested.

"I don't want to know," John told her, trying to head off the conversation before it got started.

Kara just smiled and waved her hand again. Alex shook her head and left them, wondering how long until Kara gave Sheppard a stroke.

-

Around seven o'clock, women started to drift into the infirmary. By seven fifteen there were twelve different women perched around Kara and John's beds, all chatting away happily, much to the bemusement of John who was just enjoying all the female attention.

At seven thirty Teyla and Colonel Carter strolled in, Carter carrying a tablet with her. She handed it to John and told him to pick a movie, seeing as he didn't have the choice as to whether he was going to watch the movie or not. Seeing the look of confusion on the Colonel's face, Carter had added, "It's girl's night John. You didn't think that we'd leave Kara all alone her while we were off having fun without her did you?"

The smirk on John's face was so big that Kara was sure it would be stuck there for at least a few days.

He finally picked Animal House from the list of movies that they women had given him to choose from and settled down to watch.

After the film finished a lot of the women left, most saying that they had to be up early for work. Alex, Jen, Teyla and Sam all remained, taking up seat around the two patients. They continued to chat as Kara shared out the contraband chocolate that Alex had brought her, earning a slightly disapproving look from Jen.

It was close to midnight when Sam finally called it a night and Jen ushered the others out of the infirmary, telling them that her patients needed to get some sleep even if the women didn't. She handed them both sleeping pills before wishing them good night and leaving, switching off the lights behind her.

-

"_Hey John," Kara purred as she sashayed her way across his room to where he was lying on his bed. She leaned down and covered his lips with her, lightly at first then more firmly as he responded to her kiss._

_He pulled her down on top of him and felt himself get harder as she pressed her chest to his and started to kiss down his neck, finding the spot behind his ear that always got him. He groaned and skimmed his hands up her legs, which were bare until the top of her thighs where the leather skirt she was wearing covered her skin._

_Leaning back on her thighs she reached for his shirt and started to slowly undo the buttons, her finger grazing along the skin that she was revealing. She pushed it off his shoulder and lowered her mouth to his chest, kissing her way down until she hit the trail of hair that disappeared into his pants._

_She looked up at him, pure lust shining in her eyes as she reached for the button and zipper of his BDU's._

_John took hold of her hips and rolled them so he was now on top, grinding his hips into her causing her to arch upwards towards him. He found his hands pushing her top up, revealing her flat stomach. He bent his head to place kisses on her belly, his tongue dipping into her bellybutton causing her to giggle slightly._

_John crawled back up her body, pulling her top over her head and throwing it to one side as he went. He reached behind her to undo the clasp on her bra as she leaned up to bite his shoulder lightly. He moaned and momentarily forgot what he was doing as one of her hands trailed down his chest and started to flick lightly at his nipples._

_Suddenly they were both naked, John holding Kara's hands above her head with one of his while he ran a finger along her jaw and down the arch of her neck. She leaned up closely and he could feel her hot breath on his ear as she whispered, "Catch me if you can."_

_John blinked and found himself in one of the many generic corridors of the city. Kara was about twenty feet away from him, now as fully clothed as he was. She smiled seductively as she started to walk backwards away from him. He moved closer but no matter how many steps he took she just seemed to get further away._

_He started running, intent on catching up with her just to find out what was going on but suddenly she went round a corner and vanished. He ran, desperate to find her but he couldn't see her anywhere. Eventually he rounded a corner and found her on her knees in front of Teegan, the Mayaf man who'd been in charge of torturing John._

"_She is so pretty," Teegan said, running a hand through her hair as she sat there docilely letting the man touch her. "Such a shame she has to die. But maybe I can have a little fun with her first?"_

_John lunged only to find that he was tied to a chair, back in the cell where Teegan had first introduced himself. "You can't win John. I will have her and there is nothing you can do it stop me."_

_John blinked and Kara was there again, in the same leather skirt and revealing top from earlier. She was kneeling in front of him, eyes blank as she asked, "Why couldn't you save me John?"_

"_I- I tried," John said, his voice cracking at the blank look in Kara's eyes._

"_But you didn't save me," she said. Turning to Teegan she went on, "You let him get me, hurt me. Why didn't you save me?"_

_I tried, John wanted to say but found that he couldn't as he watched Teegan pull Kara to her feet and press the Mayaf version of a 9mm against her head._

"_Say goodbye John," he said as he pulled the trigger._

John sat up gasping for breath. He looked around, disorientated and confused. He wasn't in the room any more. He was on Atlantis. In the infirmary.

The marines had come and rescued them from Mayaf and now he was in the infirmary, recovering from the beating they'd given him in the thirty six hours he been the prisoner.

"John?" he heard Kara ask from beside him.

She was looking at him through sleepy eyes, obviously still under the effects of the sleeping pills Keller had given them both earlier. "I'm fine," he reassured her. "It's nothing, go back to sleep Kara."

"You sure?" she asked yawning.

"Yeah, you go back to sleep," he told her, lying himself back down on the bed.

As John got his heart rate back under control he thought back over the dream. The strange thing was that Kara was one of the people that Teegan hadn't threatened to kill while trying to get information out of John. And what the hell was with the part in his room? He wasn't attracted to Kara was he? Well, anybody with eyes and a pulse was probably attracted to Kara, but was he really considering sleeping with her?

John closed his eyes and prayed that he could sleep without nightmares about Teegan…or dreams about Kara.

-

AN: And chapter 5 is done!


	6. Facing the truth

meep I've neglected this story, but no more. I apologise for the wait.

-

The next day John was distant. When they'd woken up Kara had tried to engage him in conversation about the film, but he'd rebuffed her saying he was still tired and then, to all intense and purpose went back to sleep. Kara was a little confused about this, but hadn't let it bother her. She picked up her book and read until Alex had come along with some coffee and the morning gossip and then read some more when Alex left to return to work.

John woke up just as they bought lunch down from the mess hall, and they ate in silence while Jen checked John over. "If you feel up to it Colonel, I think a little walk today would probably do you good," Jen had told him when she'd finished.

"Sound good," John had replied and once he's finished eating Jen had helped him out of bed and had one of the nurses take him for a walk.

Once he returned, Kara picked up the guitar and started to play, but had only been at it ten minutes when John asked her to stop. She bit her lip and put the guitar down, picking her book back up and ignoring the fact that John rolled onto his side so he was facing away from her.

It didn't get much better that evening when everyone came to visit. John was as distant as he had been when they'd first returned and even though Teyla, Ronon and Rodney had tried valiantly to bolster John's spirits, it didn't do much good. Finally they had left, promising to return in the morning to have breakfast with their CO, which John barely acknowledged.

When it came time to sleep, John took the sleeping pills gratefully and didn't even notice that Kara hadn't taken her own. He lay down and prayed for the sleep that had been eluding him all day.

_-_

_John and Kara were in the mess hall, which was deserted apart from the two of them. Kara was smiling seductively at him again as she ate from a bowl of chocolate frosting that was sat between them._

"_Would you like some?" she asked him, voice more of a purr than normal._

"_Sure," he replied watching as she scooped some of the frosting onto her index finger and held it up to his mouth. He took Kara's finger into his mouth and sucked and licked it until it was clean, all the time watching the look of pure bliss on Kara's face._

_Grabbing hold of her arm to hold her still, John lent across the table and pulling her into a heated kiss, his free hand going to the back of Kara's head to pull her closer._

_Kara moaned and climbed over the table to get closer to him, never once breaking the kiss._

_Eventually John broke the kiss, breathing hard as Kara started to nibble at his neck, finding that spot behind his ear again that caused him to lose all conscious thought. He was on auto-pilot as he pulled her flush against him, hips grinding together sending shots of pleasure through John's body._

_Suddenly she was gone, but he could still feel her breath on his ear as she whispered, "Are you going to save me John?"_

_He blinked and he was back in _that _room tied to _that_chair, Teegan stood over him a satisfied smirk on his face. "Well John, are you going to save her?" he asked_.

-

Kara knew something was wrong with John. His behaviour was all wrong, so when it came time to go to sleep, she refused the sleeping pill that Jen tried to hand her and settled down to wait. She was just starting to dose off when she heard John groan and shift in his sleep.

Sitting up she could see his eyes moving beneath the lids, telling Kara that he was dreaming. She wondered what he was dreaming about, but then noticed how the blankets around his groin were tented slightly. Raising an eyebrow, Kara lay back down and hoped that John didn't make too many noises while he slept, wondering how she would be able to face him in the morning if he did.

Then the noises changed. Suddenly John was whimpering rather than groaning and his head was moving from side to side, a look of almost panic on his face. Kara sat up again and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. A few more seconds of listening and she knew that John wasn't dreaming anymore. He was having a nightmare.

Kara dropped to the floor and padded over to John's bed, shaking his arm slightly, hoping it would wake him. John just continued to jerk his head and moan slightly. She could almost make out words but it was still too slurred for a definite answer.

"John," Kara said, shaking his arm more forcefully.

"Sorry Kara, I tried," he mumbled, face screwed up in pain.

"John," she said form firmly. "It's just a dream; you need to wake up."

"Keegan. No. Don't do it, don't kill her,"

Kara was starting to get desperate. She pinched him hard on the arm, but still he wouldn't wake up.

"Damn it," she swore. There was one sure fire way she'd found to wake people up from nightmares, unfortunately she didn't really think that it was a good idea to go around slapping her boss without a really, really good reason.

"No, wait don't hurt her. Kara," John continued.

Kara made up her mind and swung herself into the bed so that she was straddling John. Pulling her hand back she slapped him hard as the two on duty nurses came rushing from their on call room, shouting to Jen who was in her office to come quickly.

For a second Kara thought it had worked, but John just started to thrash harder now that there was something pinning his real body down. The nurses looked stunned as Jen pushed through them to get to Kara and John.

"What's going on?" she asked Kara.

"He's having a nightmare," Kara told her, trying her best no to fall off the struggling man.

"Can't you wake him up?" Jen asked.

"I'm trying," Kara said as she pulled back her hand and smacked John again. This time it did the trick. He bolted upright surprised that the weight over his stomach hadn't disappeared when he's woken. He was gasping for breath as his eyes tried to focus on the room around him.

"Kara?" he asked as he realised who was sat on top of him.

"You're okay," she said as he pulled her into a hug. "It was just a nightmare. I'm fine see."

She started to rub circles on his back as Jen shooed the nurses back to their station, assuring them that everything was fine. She paused before she decided to leave the two of them alone, hoping that the Colonel would open up to Kara if they were alone.

One their audience had left, Kara pulled back from John, who now seemed much calmer than he had a few minutes ago. "What's going on John?" she asked him, eyes full of concern.

"It's nothing," he told her, laying back down.

"Nothing? Are you kidding me?"

"It's nothing to be worried about," John tried again, not wanting to talk about what he'd just dreamt. "You should probably get off me," he told her when he realised how compromising a position this probably looked.

"No," Kara refused. "Not until you tell me what's going on."

"I don't want to talk about it," Sheppard said stubbornly.

"Well tough because you need to talk about it, or these dreams aren't going to stop," Kara said, trying to make John look her in the eye. "They'll just get worse until one day you break, and then it doesn't matter if you want to talk about them or not because you won't be able to get away from them, even if you're awake."

John just stared at her blankly. "Who's Teegan?" she asked eventually.

John flinched when she said the name but stayed silent. Kara gritted her teeth to stop herself from trying to slap him again. The man was just so infuriating when he wanted to be. "Judging from your reaction to his name I'm guessing it's not someone good."

John looked up at Kara. While her words had been harsh, her eyes where still soft and understanding. Maybe it was worth a try, John thought.

"Teegan was the Mayaf in charge of my interrogation," he told Kara, not looking at her.

"I'm not sure if you know this, but I'm pretty sure he was killed in the extraction," Kara said softly.

"No, I didn't know. I was pretty out of it by the time the marines showed up," John replied, still looking at the sheets.

"He threatened to kill us to make you talk didn't he?"

John didn't know where she was getting her information from, but she was bang on. "Not you," he told her, surprised when he carried on. "Teyla and Rodney mainly. He had been watching us through out the party and noticed that I spent most of my time with them and Ronon. He probably figured out that Ronon could look after himself, but Rodney and Teyla…" he trailed off as he felt a lump from in his throat.

"Teyla's an easy target because she's a woman, and it doesn't take a genius to work out that Rodney isn't military," Kara continued for him.

John nodded and let out a ragged breath. "He did threaten you," John told her, feeling that now he'd started that he couldn't stop without telling her the whole story. "When you went down, while we were fighting back on Neeran, he must have noticed that it distracted me. They didn't knock me out to take me through the gate like the rest of you. They tied me up and made me watch as they hauled you all out of there.

"The guy who was carrying you was…a little more hands-on that he would have been if you were Lorne or Rodney. It scared me that you were so defenceless. I was used to you fighting, and quite frankly winning, when you spa with the men, the fact that you were dead weight and couldn't stop them if they tried something," John shuddered.

"Its part of the life we choose when women join the Air Force," Kara told him. "Particularly when we volunteer for dangerous assignments. I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this mission, and trust me I've been in worse situations in my life.

"As for Rodney and Teyla? Teyla's lived in this galaxy all her life, she knows the risks that come attached with stepping through the stargate. If she wasn't comfortable being on your team, if she was worried about the risks, she would have left by now. She still has a place with the Athosians, or she did until they went missing. Do you really think that they would blame you if she was killed?"

John didn't reply. He knew that they wouldn't blame him, but he would blame himself.

"Rodney is in the exact same position," Kara went on. "He knows that he risks being killed if he goes off world, but he does it anyway. He doesn't have to but he knows that when push comes to shove you would do anything to keep him safe, and if something were to happen, it wouldn't be because you didn't do everything you could to stop it."

"They're my friends," John said eventually. "I don't want to be responsible for getting my friends hurt or killed."

"So what, you become a hermit and only ever talk to the military guys?" Kara joked. "It doesn't work like that. This city is not Air Force, its civilian. Things are different here and I think it's for the better."

John still didn't look convinced. "Do me a favour," Kara suggested. "Talk to Teyla and Rodney tomorrow. Ask them if it's worth the risk. If they say no you can always get them reassigned to other teams or even taken off of off world missions altogether."

"I'll speak to them," John told her.

"Good," Kara said, climbing off him and onto the floor. "What happened to wasn't your fault John," she reassured him, squeezing his arm before walking back to her bed.

"Hey, what happened to your ankle?"

-

The next morning when the rest of Sheppard's team arrived for breakfast they found Kara dressed in her civvies sat cross-legged on the end of John's bed with Alex's travel battleship came sat between them.

It took little prompting before Kara explained, "He caught me last night. The ruse is up, so I just have to wait for Jen to check me over one last time and then I'm free."

"What about you John?" Teyla asked.

"Keller says I need to be here at least another day, but barring anything seriously going wrong she thinks I can leave tomorrow," John told her.

"Okay," Kara interrupted. "Back to the game. B5."

"Damn," John cursed. "How do you always know where my ships are?"

"I cheated," Kara told him, face straight and voice serious.

"Ha-ha," John replied and called out more grid selections.

Once they'd eaten and the food tray had been cleared away, Jen called Kara over to the other side of the infirmary to do her discharge physical. As the other prepared to leave, John caught hold of Teyla's hand and asked, "Can I have a quick word?"

Teyla settled herself back down into the chair she'd been sitting in as Ronon and Rodney waved goodbye and left. "What is it John?" Teyla asked kindly.

"I was talking with Kara last night and she made me realise a few things," John told her. "I just…I need you to realise that every time we walk through the gate that we could be killed."

"I am already aware of that John," Teyla said.

"I know, but…every time we walk through the gate it's me asking you to put your life on the line for us."

"John, I am not doing this for you," she replied. "I am doing this for my people, for all the people of this galaxy who do not have the ability or the resources to defend themselves against the Wraith. You have given me an opportunity to help people, people I do not know and may never meet, and that is why I put my life on the line every time I go through that gate. Not because you ask me to, but because it is the right thing to do."

"But one day-"

"One day is not today," Teyla cut him off. "If we fear the future we would not be able to live in the present."

"Sounds like a quote," John told her.

"It was something my father used to say to me."

John was quiet for a few minutes before finally saying, "If you ever want to leave. Or to be assigned to another team or to stop going off world for any reason, just tell me."

"I will John," Teyla reassured him. "Now, I am supposed to be meeting Major Lorne and his team to go and see some old trading partners. I am hoping that they might know what happened to my people."

"You better get going then," John said as Teyla stood and smiled at him.

"I will be back soon," she told him.

John watched as Teyla left and Kara returned from her sessions with Keller.

"You ready to go?" he asked her.

"Yep," she said as she perched on the edge of his bed. "However, I'm not allowed to train for another three days and I'm not going to be on active duty for another week."

"Does this mean I get the pleasure of your company for another few days?" John asked.

"Seeing as I don't have anything else to do," Kara reasoned. "I figured you might like someone to talk to."

"Surely you mean someone to listen to," John said.

"No, I've done all the talking these past few days; I figure it's your turn to return the favour,"

"You're not going to leave until I do are you."

"Not a chance," Kara said, moving to sit in the seat that Teyla had just vacated.

"Well you we're right about Teyla," John told her. "She said something to me, something that her father used to tell her."

"What was it?" Kara wanted to know.

"'If we fear the future we would not be able to live in the present'."

"Sound like a clever man," Kara told him.

"Yeah," John said, mind busy thinking about what he feared in the future. He pulled himself out of his musing and turned to Kara. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

-

So, that's the end. Now that I've updated this, the plot bunnies are muching again. Maybe Kara and Alex will be popping up in another story soon...


End file.
